Can We Be Saved?
He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Ezekiel 37:3 NASB
You know – yadaetta. “You know.” Implication? I don’t know! In fact, no one except You, Lord, knows. No point in speculating. No guessimating. No wishful thinking. No theological pontificating either. “Only You know, Lord.” Can we be revived from the desiccated bones we have become due to our own neglect, our selfish choices, our willful disobedience? Only God knows.
Do you find that comforting or terrifying? The answer depends on your confidence in your current relationship with the Father. If it is good, intimate and deep, you will probably find the answer comforting. It’s wonderful to know that YHVH cares so much for you. It’s marvelous to see Him bring you back to life day by day. But if your relationship with the Father is strained, tempestuous, perhaps even absent, then the answer will be terrifying. Clearly you don’t know how this is going to turn out, and if He isn’t telling you, everything is at risk.
That might even propel you to become more withdrawn. You might feel as if you need more protective cover. But that would only exacerbate the problem. Faith is counterintuitive. When we find ourselves threatened by the possibility that we cannot stand before Him, our natural reaction is to run, to protect ourselves with more barriers, excuses and addictive tranquilizers of our fears. We become like Adam who tried to hide his lack of transparency with “leaves” over his privacy. But the distance grows, the absence intensifies, the fears increase. What is needed is just the opposite of our inclination. What is needed is pain—the pain of standing still in the light. We cannot know if God will revive us while we are fleeing His refining fire. But we can know if we stand still and get burned. In order to live we must first be charred—a sacrifice consumed on the altar as a sweet savor to the Lord. What lives must first die. So step forward and become what you are—dry bones—so that He can breathe upon you.
The Genesis story of the Fall is very old. It contains many, many levels of meaning. It is a tribal account that pushes us to see ourselves in the characters in the story. When Adam sins, he realizes that he is no longer innocent. He now has an inner, hidden consciousness much like the duplicitous serpent. There is something about him that he does not want others to see. So he constructs a covering. The Hebrew is aleh te’enah, quite unusual since the root is ala, “to go up, to climb, to ascend.” It is a word commonly associated with the ascent of the smoke from the burnt sacrifice. Te’enah may be “fig,” but we can hardly imagine the Adam waited for a fig to climb up over him. Davidson suggests that the term is borrowed from another language and is properly connected to the idea of a belt of pride, a display of military prowess. This means Adam attempted to cover himself with his pride. The suggestion is telling. How many times have we also attempted to dismiss guilt by enlisting pride? Whatever may be the origin, it is clear that Adam wished to hide something. And that raises a complicated question. What is it that Adam wishes to hide?
Our Christian history directs us to think that Adam and Eve attempted to hide their genitals. But this doesn’t make any sense. YHVH query, “Who told you that you were naked?” implies that covering the genitals had no prior significance. Why should sexual organs suddenly become the focus of sinful disobedience? No other creature in the entire creation attempts to cover the means of sexual reproduction. It seems quite unlikely that this is any part of Adam’s sudden realization of the loss of innocence. What happens to Adam is an internal awareness, not an abrupt consciousness of sexuality. What Adam attempts to cover is a change in his heart, not his genitals. The typical paintings of Adam and Eve with fig leaves completely misinterprets the story, and as a result, perpetuates a puritan sexuality as if modesty were the sin in the Garden. But as we all know, fully dressed does not mean righteous, nor does naked mean sinful.
Let’s abolish this cultural interpretation once and for all. If Genesis 2:25 is correct, they were both naked but not ashamed. The Fall is not about clothing. It is also not about sex. It is about the deceit of a heart turned away from the Creator. What Adam desperately wishes to hide is his fragmented self. The idea of fig leaves is cultural, not theological.
Ezekiel answers, “You know, Lord.” Restoration is in the hands of the Creator. We can absolutely know our depravity. That is the gift of the serpent. We know without a shadow of doubt that we have something to hide. But whether or not we will be restored is not something we are privileged to know on our own. For that we must rely on the Creator. He knows that outcome, just as He anticipated our inadequate “fig leaf” answer.
Topical Index: yadaetta, you know, fig leaves, aleh te’enah, pride, Fall, sex, Genesis 1:25, Ezekiel 37:3
Could it be that Adam wasnt trying to hide what was present but what had gone missing?….
Moshe covered up when he glowed…..maybe Adams glow was gone
There is a popular interpretation, the origins I do not know,that suggests that Adam and the woman were creatures of light, and bathed in light before the Fall, after which they were given skin. I do not believe the text supports this. It suggests that Adam attempted to hide (as did the woman) is present condition. Notice he refers to his fear as present tense.
Naturally Supernatural
~ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O LORD God, You [only] know.” (Ezekiel 37:3)
~ But I will offer sacrifices to You with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the LORD alone.” (Jonah 2.9)
“Salvation” – Original Word: יְשׁוּעָה
Transliteraton: Yeshua
May I? HELLO!! HIs Name IS??? Did we forget the announcement of the Angel? You shall call His Name – You shall name Him – “Yeshua” or “Salvation.” And? “He shall save His people from their sins.” And? (Amazingly?) In His own words, [the mission of the Messiah?]
~The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19.10)
If we doubt this, or do not yet “believe,” maybe the words of Thomas the doubter would best describe our current condition:
“the other disciples told him, “We have seen [Yeshua] the LORD.” But he replied,
“Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.” (John 20.25)
ADONAI Answers and Accommodates Thoma
~ And after eight days, again the disciples were inside and Thomas was with them and Yeshua [the One whose very Name is Salvation] came when the doors were barred; He stood in the center and He said to them, “Peace be with you.” ~ (John 20.26)
~ And He said to Thoma, [Thomas the Doubter] “Put your finger here and behold My hands and put your hand and reach into My side and do not be an unbeliever, but a believer.” ~ “Be not faithless, but believing.”
Have You Seen This Man?
~ And [Carl and] Thomas [both] answered and said to Him, “My LORD, and my God.”
Yeshua said to him, “Now that you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen Me and have believed.”
Yeshua also did many other signs before His disciples, which are not written in this scripture.
~ But these things are also written that you may believe that Yeshua is The Messiah, the Son of God, and when you believe, you shall have eternal life in His Name.* ~
May We Also Know?
Rest Assured
~Verily-verily,
~ Truly-truly,
~ Amen and amen,
I say unto you,
“Whoever hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is [today] passed from Death unto Life.” (John 5.24)
~I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life ~ (1 John 5.13)
~ He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed ~
(Isaiah 53.5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm5…
Thank you for today’s post , I always thought that the nakedness and the covering had a deeper interpretation than the sexual one that you hear, now it all makes perfect sense , they loss the connection thanks very much for today’s post Skip
Neither could I understand why Adam and Eve would suddenly become modest if they were still the only humans around so I did a study on the AV word “aprons”. It is Strong’s H2290 and it is used 6 more times in the Old Testament and I believe that in at least 5 of those verses it is plainly associated with a protective covering, most likely a warriors belt. As such, in these verses it is linked to, a sword and bow; a soldier’s reward of silver and a girdle; blood of war upon his girdle; armour; and, contrasted with a tear, (i.e. not having protection).
While I admit that making a warrior’s belt made out of fig leaves would do little good, the idea is still there. After the Fall, everything changed, the world became hostile to Adam and Eve. They sensed it and made a feeble attempt to protect themselves, as best they could, and hide in the bushes. This was not out of modesty but for protection from the harsh new world.
Later, God makes a some better protection. God kills an animal, and its hide provides a temporary shelter for the man against death. He “puts on” the hide of the innocent animal who died for him, and whom God provided.
This is a shadow of the permanent shelter that protects us from death. The sacrifice of Christ whom God also provided. We now “put on” Christ for our protection, in Whom we move and live. But our fight today is not so much against heat and cold and flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces against us. So now our warrior’s girdle apron has become the armour of God.
Eph 6: 13 Therefore take up the panoply (armour) of God that you may be enabled to withstand in the wicked day, and having effected all, to stand. 14 Stand, then, girded about your loins with truth, with the cuirass of righteousness put on. 15 and your feet sandaled with the readiness of the evangel of peace; 16 with all taking up the large shield of faith, by which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the wicked one.
please check the origin of the word in a more exhaustive source like TDOT. There is even more involved here.
As for the “killing of an innocent animal,” the text actually doesn’t say that and the language used in that passage is also more powerful.
As for typology, your statement is a midrash, of course, and would not be possible without first having the apostolic accounts AND using a particular view of the atonement as the paradigm for the interpretation.
Choices & consequences of Lust vs. Love…..the church taught me lust was purely sin of a physical /sexual nature but I am learning it is a sin of the heart…….
lust is desire without relationship?????????……
“lust is desire without relationship?????????…” Spot on, cbcb!
LIKE!!!!!
Yet if a man is struggling with lustful desire internally won’t it manifest externally sexually also? -so maybe the paintings were symbolic or the actual painters were exposing there own hearts on the canvas .. ?
What does love look like, act like & how would God’s heart of love respond ,when others react with pridely hiding ,self-protection,lust & fear?????
The Attempt
~ And this is the judgment [the verdict]: The Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil ~ (John 3.17)
Adam was the first to “attempt” it. To cover his shame. His “nakedness.” His conscience was pricked, [somehow he knew he had done wrong] and in order to hide from Elohim a feeble and even seemingly ridiculous attempt was made to cover himself from the holy Presence of his intimate Creator and Friend. That night [and a dark night of the soul it was!], they did not “walk together in the cool of the evening.”
– Fellowship was broken because sin had now entered the scene, and so was born a rift in the relationship between [now] sinful man and holy God. Adam, you were right to hide yourself , — for “your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you” (Isaiah 59.2) Sin separates.
Jonah also “attempted” to run from God. Jonah, — where are you planning to hide from God? Why are you “running away?” O sinner man, —where you gonna run to?
King David did some “soul-searching” and said —
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your Presence?
The Answer
Nowhere.
For if I ascend to Heaven, You are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there Your hand shall lead me,
and Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to You;
The night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with You.
The Atonement
You’re covered, Adam.
~ And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments [clothing, a covering, an “atonement”] of animal skins, and clothed them ~ (Genesis 3.21)
Dressed in His righteousness, alone
Faultless to stand before the Throne
The Attire
~ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might. Put on [clothe youselves with] the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
The Announcement
No longer naked. No longer afraid. God has provided Himself the Lamb. No longer running “from!” Now running to!!
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin;
The Light of the world is Jesus;
Like sunshine at noonday His glory shone in,
The Light of the world is Jesus.
Come to the Light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see;
The Light of the world is Jesus.
No darkness have we who in Jesus abide,
The Light of the world is Jesus;
We walk in the Light when we follow our Guide,
The Light of the world is Jesus.
Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes,
The Light of the world is Jesus;
Go, wash at his bidding, and Light will arise,
The Light of the world is Jesus.
No need of the sunlight in Heaven, we’re told,
The Light of the world is Jesus;
The Lamb is the Light in the City of Gold,
The Light of the world is Jesus.
Come to the Light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see;
The Light of the world is Jesus.
~ Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I AM the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ~ (John 8.12)
~ They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.… ~ (Psalm 36.9,10)
The Assurance
~ And lo, [behold] — I AM with you always, even to the end of the age ~
The Amen
Amen!!
Ha!! Ooo this is a great teaching!
Aren’t we all somewhat fragmented? A covering of pride-really?
Absolutely. I am familiar with it personally sorry to say.
This makes so much more sense than the whole notion of all of a sudden becoming worried about being naked. I don’t know if there was something before the Puritans that was so concerned about such extreme properness. Seems like the Puritans though have had a big influence here in America. I think there have been a lot of attempts to “cover” all of the lustings if you will, of the yetzer hara thru history.
Who can know the heart anyways? Yah its rhetorical! Only Y-H knows the heart and we seem to think we can cover it from Him. I think we can empathize with Adam on this one!
Folks who are withdrawn are trying hard to hide their lack of transparency, foolishly presume that silence is golden, without having to make excuses, but how wrong can they be! The more they try to cover up, to escape, the more revealing their guilt. That is just the cover Adam used, the flimsy fig leaves to cover his disobedience.
“But the distance grows, the absence intensifies, the fears increase. What is needed is just the opposite of our inclination.”
YHWH gave Adam the grace to explain, reason with Him. HE desires to hear what he has to say, if he would acknowledge, confess his disobedience to seek forgiveness. Foolishly, Adam did not.